Spring 2012

An introduction to the varieties of literary English from
Beowulf to Beloved. After a rapid
introduction to Old and Middle English, the focus for most of the
class will be on the language since 1500, with attention to the
rise of print culture, the development of "standard English," and
departures from the standard, including regional dialects,
African-American Vernacular English, obscenity and profanity, and
global Englishes.